The King's Wizard Read Online Free PDF Page B

the doors flew open and a young woman in a coronet and
     dark velvet mantle marched in. After a moment Vortigern recognized her: Nimue, Lord Ardent’s daughter and one of the royal
     hostages.
    “I didn’t send for you,” he observed.
    “That’s why I’m here,” Nimue said calmly. His words didn’t seem to faze her.
    “I’ve killed men for such insolence,” Vortigern said. All around him, the chamber was filled with the stifled sound of battle-hardened
     warriors trying not to be noticed.
    “And women?” Nimue asked. She really wasn’t afraid of him. Vortigern found this astonishing.
    “Yes. And children,” he said, smiling his predator’s smile as he stalked toward her.
    Astonishingly, Princess Nimue laughed. “See? I’m trembling,” she said, holding out a steady hand.
    “What makes you so brave?” Vortigern asked in wonder. He circled her menacingly.
    “Knowing that if you hurt me, my father and his men will go over to Uther,” Nimue said calmly.
    Vortigern grimaced. Kill the girl and he lost his hold over Ardent, and his hold over the fathers of the other hostages was
     weakened. He could not afford that, least of all now, when Uther waited ready to welcome any disaffected band of warriors
     to swell his army’s ranks.
    “Yes,” he said consideringly, “that would make you brave enough to face me. So what do you want?”
    “Merlin—the wizard—is sick.”
    “Then get him a physician,” Vortigern growled, once he remembered who she was talking about. The moment was sliding from drama
     into farce, and if any of the fools gathered in this room laughed he’d have to kill the girl just to save face. Maybe he could
     feed her to the Great Dragon and kill two birds with one sacrifice.
    “There’s no cure but his freedom,” Nimue announced.
    “I can’t give him that,” Vortigern said. For a moment he wondered if somehow Nimue was in communication with Uther. Christian
     or not, Uther must know that a wizard as powerful as Merlin would be a great ally in the war to come.
    “Then he’ll die,” Nimue said.
    As if I care
, Vortigern thought. A dead wizard could be of no use to his enemy, and that was more important than the aid Merlin could
     be to him. “We all die eventually,” Vortigern said, sweeping his captains with a menacing glance. “Even wizards.”
    Nimue turned to go, as if she had given up. As she reached the doors she stopped and looked back, as if a thought had suddenly
     struck her.
    “If he does, you’ll never know about the battle. He’s had another vision. Don’t you want to know how to win?”

CHAPTER TWO

T HE T HRONE OF T RUCE
    T rapped in his cell beneath the castle foundations, Merlin drifted in a dream of banners and clashing swords. Victory for the
     red dragon … or the white. But which—and when? The sounds of the battle merged with the sound of the key turning in the lock
     of his cell door, so that Merlin did not truly wake until Nimue knelt beside his cot.
    “Merlin—you’re free. The king wants to see you,” she said, shaking him gently awake.
    “Why?” Merlin asked quietly. Over her shoulder he could see his guards standing in the doorway, regarding him uneasily.
    “I told him you’d had a vision of Uther,” Nimue said, her voice low. “I lied—but you can make something up, can’t you?”
    Merlin smiled painfully. “As it happens, that won’t be necessary. Help me up.”
    * * *
    The soldiers almost had to carry Merlin up the steps that led out of the dungeon, but once he emerged into the clear winter
     sunlight of the castle courtyard, strength seemed to seep into him with the sun’s warmth. Though still very weak, he was walking
     under his own power by the time he entered the corridor that led to the king’s Great Hall.
    The news that Uther had taken Winchester without a battle frightened Vortigern’s men more than Vortigern had expected—and
     terrified men, the king knew, were difficult to panic further.
    “I have the